Selling Your Home with Solar Panels 

Unfortunately some things in life are not foreseeable. You’ve installed solar panels in your current home, but are realizing now that you don’t think you’ll be living at the same place 10-20 years from now. You’ll either have to make an agreement between you and the new buyer, agreeing to take over the new lease - or pay off the lease yourself before you leave. Not to fear, You’re not alone. Most solar homes have been passed along two or three different owners.

Do Solar Panels Sell Well? 

On average, solar panels can add an estimated $15,000 to a home’s sale value. However, some homeowners find it to be too complicated and can be turned off - simply because they don’t know much about solar. The same applies for agents. More often than not, though, most potential homeowners are becoming more educated about the value of solar energy. That being said, a strong piece of advice would be to educate the interested homeowner and agent. Market change will come only from trust, but this effect can’t snowball until everyone has been educated about the benefits of solar.

A few last things to confirm before making the move. The first is to check the warranty details on your system, to make sure the new homeowner won’t run into any problems down the line with no coverage. You’ll also want to make sure you’ve figured out how to remove or relocate the panels, if the new owners decide to do so. As long as you are completely transparent to the new homeowners about the terms and conditions of their solar powered home, you should be good to go.

Buying A Home with Solar Panels 

You’ve found a home that you click with, and it has solar panels already installed! This saves you the hassle of having to install them yourself, so for that, congratulations. Before purchasing a home with solar panels already installed, there’s a few things you need to check on.

1. Find out if the solar panels are leased or owned. Get your hands on the contracts so that you can be completely sure of the timeline, fees, and ownership. 
2. Make sure the owner of the panels is within the US. The reason for this is that many solar panels outside the US could be subject to any misleading warranty terms. 
3. Take a look at the previous energy bills from the current owner. Do the solar panels look worth it? You can mostly judge this from the size of the panels. The bigger the panel, the more money you’ll save. 
4. Finally, you’ll want to check if the solar panel’s owner is eligible for net metering. This will ensure that the energy you don’t use on your home will go back into the system and not be charged on your monthly bill.
   

We wish you luck in your new home, whether it’s a move out or a move into a solar powered home. Steer clear of any confusion, and spread the positivity towards solar energy.